Air Canada's Leisure Unit Adds New Air to Ground System

Woodrow Bellamy III

Air Canada has selected ARINC to provide air-to-ground communications for its leisure group airline, Air Canada rouge.

ARINC will provide its Globalink voice and data infrastructure for Air Canada rouge. Data link services will be the primary communications option for the leisure airline, providing communications between flight crews and ground support, such as dispatch and maintenance workers.

The Globalink system will also provide "enroute voice operational control capability" for Air Canada rouge, ARINC said in a prepared statement.

Air Canada launched its leisure subsidiary July 1,and is now looking to use the same VHF data link system that it uses for its non-leisure flights with ARINC's system. According to ARINC, over 300 airlines currently use Globalink for their Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) on 15,000 aircraft worldwide.